On Friday we reported the breaking news that the decision had been made to set the release date for the Star Trek sequel to mid-summer 2012, and today it is now being officially confirmed by Paramount. Star Trek is back June 29, 2012. There has also been some activity on the Summer 2012 competition front in the last couple of days, including big news on the Spidey franchise. Details below

Trek to Summer 2012Today Paramount Pictures is officially confirming news that was reported on Friday by TrekMovie and other sites. TrekMovie has confirmed this with Paramount directly today, and Variety is also reporting that the "untitled Star Trek sequel" is planned for June 29th, 2012.

Scripting on the film has not yet started in earnest, but there is now ample time. This time around Damon Lindelof will be working with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman on the story, before Orci and Kurtzman break off to pen the screenplay. Bob and Alex handed in their script for the first Star Trek in January 2007, with production starting in November 2007 and post-production wrapped up (for the most part) by the end of 2008 (with the film kept on ice for the May 2009 release). Although Zoe Saldana recently commented that pre-production on the sequel would start in late 2010, they could still hit the target with an early 2011 kick-off. There will be less work to do this time around as much of the casting and design work has been completed.

The entire USS Enterprise main cast was originally signed for options on two additional films are expected to come back (Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Anton Yelchin). Other Star Trek actors such as Bruce Greenwood (Pike), Ben Cross (Sarek), Jennifer Morrison (Winona Kirk), have expressed interest in returning as well, but their involvement would depend on the script.

The question of who will direct the film remains a question mark. As noted by Variety, although Abrams is on board as a producer, he has yet to ink any deal to direct. Abrams has said in interviews with TrekMovie and others that he is open and would likely be available to direct, but will make the decision once the script is done.

More 2012: Spidey Reboot + Wolverine 2, maybe Batman 3 and more
Paramount is on the early side for staking out a position for Summer 2012, and therefore got dibs on the coveted pre 4th of July weekend. Right now the only other confirmed dates are The Avengers (May 4) and Madagascar 3 (May 25).

Today there has also been a big announcement in the Spider-man world. The Spider-Man 4 film planned for Summer 2011 has been scrapped, with director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire walking away from the franchise. This has prompted Sony to announce a full Spider-man reboot, focusing on the high school years of Peter Parker, to be released in the Summer of 2012. In addition, at last weeks People’s Choice Awards, Hugh Jackman announced that Wolverine 2 will be shooting in 2011, for a presumed Summer 2012. Release.

Other possible Summer 2012 films would be the Batman sequel to The Dark Knight, Iron Man 3 and maybe another Indiana Jones movie. Regardless of what shows up, like every summer, there will be a number of big movies and so it makes sense that Paramount stake out its territory now before all the prime spots get taken.

And on the heels of that announcement, I hear from my inside sources that Fox will be rebooting “Avatar” for a 2012 summer release. They want to “preemptively re-imagine” the film before the quality drops off with each successive sequel. I think Neil Blomkamp would be a great choice for director.

In addidtion to the spiderman shock and Toby leaving the role…. I have always though the problem with any new star trek film series is the interest of the new actors in staying with it for a long period….

With the old cast…these characters were their lives….they embodied them and could never really walk away, they were icons because of these roles for the rest of their lives….

With the new films, the shelf life of them are some what limited to the interest of the large ensemble cast – sure they could recast but would that work with star trek? How long before say Pine moves on, do they just get another kirk?

I’m not hoping they do….but Its somthing I have thought about..there maybe much more of a limit how how long a new cast will stay together compared to the original cast

@3 You are so right, I also want a TV series.
See the problem is that the new movie castis probably already too snobby to accept a TV series. With all the others, the TV series came first, then the movie.

I can’t believe they’re making another Spiderman movie. I mean, I loved the first and second ones (the newest ones) but the third was just not good. D: Did I mind the MJ x Parker subplot? No. I thought it was wonderful. It was all the other stuff that made it a tangled web…

I have a feeling that the producers and people are gonna regret making this new Spidey movie. The money could be better spent.

@22: I don’t if I am alone but I had not gone to the theatre in years. ST in IMAX got me to go back. I went 9 times (it may even be a bit more, I can’t remember) over the summer. The IMAX here in Montreal at the Paramount (now named Cineplex) is one of the original, larger ones. It is so amazing and immersive. I was sitting all over the place and the sound was surround all the time. And the picture was gorgeous (6 stories high I think).

In the final week, I had to go to a plain theatre and I could see a big difference in the quality.

A new TV show is unlikely given the economics of TV versus blockbuster movies. The TV audience is too fragmented, and the current cast is also too deeply entrenched in film-making (Pine’s star is rising, Quinto already has a TV show, and Zoe has a bright future in movies)… so in order to get a new Trek show, it would be another cast, maybe another alternate universe/timeline, but the biggest stumbling block is that Paramount wouldn’t want to water down and newly revitalized franchise, and the subsequent revenue. TV revenue doesn’t match the earning power of these huge studio productions.

#12 We already saw a Spider-Man the teen, high-school years , it was the Spider-man movie released in 2002.

What are they going to call it “Spider-Man Begins”

If Sony could not come up with a good script to make everyone happy, it is time to give rights back to marvel so that they can make a good movie.

# 14 Ben Cross only had a short time in the movie, but his time was well spent. Mark Lenard’s Sarek was so important to the prime universe.
The alternate universe needs Ben Cross’s Sarek now more than ever, with the loss of Vulcan. I think that they will come up with a good part for him to play in this sequel, besides someone has to stick around to keep this new Spock calm.”*I don’t want Spock going on a rampage in the next movie someone might get hurt permanently this time*”. (“*The last sentence was me being sarcastic)

#15

9 or 10 years of Smallville is quite enough for me, I own every season, I have seen some of the episodes more than once.
We don’t need to go down that road again.

#28: I’ve been preaching the benefits of a Next Generation animated series for *years* now, since it wouldn’t conflict with the movie franchise. It’s on TV, it’s animated, and it’s TNG. And the cast (with the likely exception of Patrick Stewart) would jump at doing it.

#32: Agreed. The first Spider-Man was quality entertainment, Spider-Man 2 was top-notch superhero storytelling, and Spider-Man 3 was nothing more than a chick flick with action sequences. No more, please.

Well Wolverine 1 sucked and was no competition of Trek 09, so Wolverine 2 will flop too. Spiderman prequel, sounds stupid. we saw the Spiderman origin story, it rocked. I didn’t anticipate Disney screwing up the Marvel world so fast. Maybe they will reboot Hulk again for 2012?

The Spiderman reboot should be of no surprise considering the how long it’s been since the last film. It was just a matter of time. I’d be very surprised if the new film makes it for 2012. It probably won’t and will get stuck in development hell like superman etc.

Star Trek will probably go 3 to 4 films with film 4 being very costly if more than one of it’s stars really takes off. With 3 years inbetween films I would expect a ST reboot after the 4th film. Just imagine, yet another re-imaging with each one getting more creative. How long before we see Spock as a woman (like starbuck on Ron Moore’s BSG).

I think Sony should do what Sam Raimi and Tobey Macguire have done and forget about “Spider Man 4″. Leave it be for another few years. And don’t even bother with “Venom”.

As for 2012 as the date for “Star Trek” 2, I’m all for it. If they do Khan, it would be appropriate since 2012 is the 45th anniversary of “Space Seed” and the 30th anniversary of “Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan”. So there definitely would be even more pressure on the writers if they do decide to feature Khan. Personally, I think the villian will either be Khan or the Klingons. Or both.

Spider-Man as a character is bigger than any one director or set of actors. This is one of the most popular characters in the world (along with Batman)! The reboot won’t hurt things one bit, Spider-Man will ALWAYS be huge. Tobey Maguire will be near 40 in 2012! The recasting will work just fine.

All the complaining here is just typical knee-jerk reaction to change.

My main worry with having Star Trek “2” released in 2012 is that will the mainstream really remember or care about a sequel to a movie released in 2009 – Star Trek still has a rather large stigma attached to it, especially around the globe – this isn’t Batman, a character that has ALWAYS even during the Batman & Robin years been popular – Star Trek has not.

Anyway great news, it’s a pity its so far away and I’m also slightly worried that the possible sequel to TDK will really hurt it’s takings at the B.O. I can’t imagine any Star Trek sequel to top a Batman film.

If they want to keep people engaged with Star Trek i’d start work on an animated series as well as getting some big names to merchandise it – Hasbro over playmates any day, Hot Toys etc…

#48
I admire your enthusiasm, but if you want Spiderman to get the reboot it (apparently) deserves, hollywood has to give it enough time for people to forget about it. Take Star Trek, for example (since this is Trekmovie), which had a 7-year gap (2002-2007) between movies, and 15 years (1994-2009) since we had last seen any TOS characters on film. Even after that gap, it took a complete recasting, new creative team, killer story and alternate universe for Star Trek to be considered fresh.
Sounds like Raimi and Macguire are right. Given the dearth of mediocre to bad comic flicks to come to film lately (Batman excepted), Spiderman needs to be set on the back burner for a long while.

#49 I wouldn’t worry about Star Trek becoming irrelevent again by 2012. A lot of people who hadn’t been into Star Trek enjoyed this movie immensely. Most hard core fans will see the next one, the new fans brought in by the recent movie will return, as will people who skipped on seeing the movie at the box office, but who discovered the movie on dvd or Blu Ray. Plus don’t underestimate the marketing abilities ( at least domestically, internationally needs more work) power of J.J Abrams.

also theres what Bryan Singer might do first – X Men First Class or the BSG remake – i cant see theyd release 2 X Men films in one year so maybe BSG will be put into production for 2012? (not neccesarily the summer)

The Spiderman reboot is annoying. These heroes have massive amounts of story potential but Hollywood powers are obsessed with their plot formulas. Their lack of imagination is astounding. If they hadn’t forced Raimi to shoehorn Venom into 3 their plot would already have been written. Most annoying is that I really wanted to see Tobey vs Black Cat.

I’m torn over Trek 12. Each of the established characters has potential but I really want to see a few more like Rand, Chapel, Carol Marcus, and T’Pau. I hope they can work in some cameos.

Since we’re only at 2258 in the altered trekverse currently, perhaps in 25 years when the new cast is beyond their prime movie careers, they’ll be glad to step back into a threedeevision (see, 3V will eventually replace ‘tele’vision/TV) and give us the era of the third five-year mission that takes place at the end of The Voyage Home when they set out on the 1701-A. (Assuming that events in the altered timeline parallel and try to converge back on the original timeline: one of the key concepts expressed in the movie by young Spock.)

@64 “Spiderville”. hoot! You’ve given us the perfect slur for Sony’s stupidity. (Can’t blame this on Disney: Sony has the film rights to Spidey). I’d used Spiderbabies – taking a play on Solarbabies, but who the hell remembers Solarbabies?

Hey, there’s my REBOOT scripting opportunity! “Solarbabies: The Next Iteration” Then again, I was holding out for “Not the Same Avatar Avatar: The Next-To-Last Airbender” and that long lost sequel to “The Last Starfighter” where a Wiv (what comes after Wii and Wiii?) console transports people….

Teen spidey sounds like shallow corporate thinking … a brilliant director who loves the character could make it work, but what are the odds they’ll get another one of those? That Barton Fink feeling isn’t as easy to snag as the suits think it is.

Despite the lackluster nature of the first Wolverine film, I’ll “reboot” (ha!) my hopes for the next one, mainly in hopes that it (A) It’ll actually be about Wolverine this time, without extraneous fanservice mugs hogging up the real estate (B) this time it won’t be a victim of a Writer’s Strike and (C) that they really do the Shingen/Mariko story, which if done properly could rock the house down.

regarding Spiderville – maybe they taking note of what happened to Superman IV – after all Spiderman 1-3 pretty much followed the same layout of Superman I-III

superhero films seem to run their course by the 3rd film in the series – it seems to have happened time and again – first 2 films are considered great, 3rd dropped the ball..4th considered the worst by far

#70: “Spiderman 1-3 pretty much followed the same layout of Superman I-III”

Ouch. But, true.

“superhero films seem to run their course by the 3rd film in the series”

Sure, but it’s not just superhero films. The curse of the third movie strikes across all genres and modes … Alien, Terminator, Shrek, even American Pie for chrissakes (when something can strike teen sex comedies, it’s a force of nature) … even the frickin’ _Godfather_ couldn’t keep the greatness going for a third film. It doesn’t strike unavoidably (there are, fortunately, those who escape the curse) but it’s a common thing. The Spider-Man and X-Men films have provided strong and painful recent reminders, but it’s not just a superhero deal.

If it’s inherent to anything, it’s not genre … more likely some fallout from the classic hollywood formula of The More Valuable The Franchise, The Greater The Caution … The Greater the Caution, The Weaker the Story.

#51 “I admire your enthusiasm, but if you want Spiderman to get the reboot it (apparently) deserves, hollywood has to give it enough time for people to forget about it.”

No, by 2012, it will have been 5 years since Spider-Man was on the screen. That’s long enough, especially for children. People want more of these movies; the appetite for them is huge. This is Marvel’s most iconic character. If they start fresh the way 2008’s Incredible Hulk did, and as long as the director and cast are good, no one will care that Raimi and Maguire are gone. The movie will be another enormous blockbuster.

#64 “Spidey reboot with high-school years?!? Like Spiderville or what? Apart from kids, teens and hardcore Spidey fans, I wouldn’t be so sure who’d be watching it.”

Who will watch it? EVERYONE. Spider-Man is to Marvel what Batman and Superman are to D.C. – the biggest of the big.

And what’s with all this complaining about Spider-Man being a teen?? Do you people know anything about the character? He was a high school student for the first few years of the comic!

Sounds like Summer 2012 is gettng just as crowded as Summer 2011. With my limited budget, I hate having to pick and choose which movies to go see since I want to watch them all! I’ll see Star Trek for sure, but not so sure about the other ones….

Wolverine 2 will rock for sure. They can finally do the Samurai Story line… I just hope they do not bother to make this movie R-rated… would fit Wolverine.

Spiderman Reboot. Reboot = No ideas (same problem with XI imo). It much easier to warm up an old soup instead of cooking a new one (that’s why we got XI in the first place). Sad testament for Hollywood: They are completely out of ideas.

This is probably the wrong site for me to voice my concerns about tinkering with (or that catch all phrase of which makes all bad decisions ok called “rebooting”)… but I hope they do this right. While I concede I wasn’t a hundred percent thrilled with all of Raimi’s Spider-Man work I appreciated his love and devotion to it. I appreciated his remembrance of the innocence of it’s earlier beginnings. But I have hopes.

When was the AVENGERS EVER A live action film??????????????
I don’t smoke weed, I would have remembered it!
Spiderman 4:In search of a quality script. There is so much frikin’ backstory to use w/ spidey, how can they not come up with anything?
Are their writers remedial?
Does anyone know for SURE, which avengers characters are locked in definately? Thor, Iron Man, Wasp, Ant-Giant man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Sub-Mariner, Hulk?

Too bad Paramount is fixated on summer releases; Trek could probbably make a Christmas 2011 release and face less competition at the box office. A quick look at all the cash Avatar is raking in should be all the proof Paramount needs that holiday releases can make bucketloads of money as well.

#84: “A quick look at all the cash Avatar is raking in should be all the proof Paramount needs that holiday releases can make bucketloads of money as well.”

ST09 was originally to be a Christmas release but they changed their mind … and honestly I think they made the right call. Both in style and substance, it was very much a summer movie. By staking out a summer release for the next one, I assume they’re expressing intent to keep building on that same style (though here’s hoping they sneak in some substance this time).

I think Anthony Thompson was making a joke. There was a movie version of the British TV series from the ’60’s called The Avengers about a male / female detective team (I guess that’s what they were) starring Patrick MacNee. Ralph Fiennes played his part in the movie.

I would like to see Paramount do something involving Star Trek in-between Now and 2012. A new animated Series would be good, and They had talked at one time about doing a Straight-to-DVD Project. Either one would be Nice.

#86, that may be so, but I completely expect Star Trek sequel to take a lot of lessons from Avatar. it will be in 3-D. It will have a greater romantic involvement which panders to women. It will have a universal liberal message. It will explore a much more alien world that evokes awe and wonder from the audience.

I would also expect that it will have more substance, but that isn’t saying much is it? And if Avatar is the bar for substance, well it’s not likely to be that much more fulfilling than it already was.

Well, I hope it will have … any form of improved characterization at all, and certainly greater romantic involvement would qualify. I hope, however, that you’re wrong about the pandering. They did pandering last time; I’m hoping they actually, honestly engage this time around.

“It will have a universal liberal message.”

I’d wager real money to the contrary.

“It will explore a much more alien world that evokes awe and wonder from the audience.”

I hope very much you’re right. I’m not sure if there’s a real chance, but I do hope.

“I would also expect that it will have more substance, but that isn’t saying much is it?”

There are forms of slapstick with more substance :) But yes, here’s hoping, indeed.

“And if Avatar is the bar for substance […]”

Yikes; scary thought. Avatar had many critical elements Star Trek lacked or undermined, but they were also fairly basic. I would hope Avatar would never be considered the bar for substance, except possibly in the area of visual alien worldbuilding (which is certainly one worthy _facet_ of substance in a Sci-Fi flick).

73: You have a very good point!
I’d like to add that the third movie phenomenon even affected the original Star Wars trilogy. (The prequel trilogy seems to be the exception from the rule, here the third one was really the best, IMO.)

I think it’s not just the apparent majority in this forum who get annoyed with reboot-mania in Hollywood. The huge success of Avatar demonstrates that audiences really are yearning for an original movie. (OK, Cameron’s story is pretty ecclectic, as he himself admits, but it’s still an original story.)

I’m glad to see they’ve got a release date set.
Now–I’d like to know if Admiral Pike will be a part of the story.
I sure hope so, as he was my favorite.
I’ll be happy if Pike(Bruce Greenwood) is there no matter what the story is!

Reboots again and again, how are we supposed to connect with these characters on any substantial level when they keep changing actors and storylines so drastically time & again… we desperately need some continuity to establish some connectivity of feeling/attachment to these franchises. I don’t want to see another actor in the role of Hulk, I don’t want a Spiderman reboot, I don’t want 2 entirely different actors playing the same role say in a solo superhero flick vs. an ensemble hero flick like the Avengers ( keep it consistent to establish believability!), but most of all I don’t want any NewTrek actors replaced during its movie run which will probably be short lived if they waste too much time between films or start messing with the actors! Continuity is the Key to success IMHO!!!! And I don’t believe that a TV series would detract from the movie franchise when all we get is a flick every 2-4 years, so bring back Trek to the small screen soon as I am hungry for more new 1st run Trek… Please!!!